"The ocean of tomorrow"

Oceans cover about 70% of the Earth's surface, but human activity is increasing environmental pressure on them. This is threatening both marine ecosystems and sustainable maritime activities. The objective of this call for proposals is to help us understand how arctic and marine ecosystems respond to a combination of natural and human-induced factors. This should provide a scientific basis for sustainable management measures, supporting policies and possible related technologies.

Up to €34 million will be allocated to large multidisciplinary research projects involving partners from different countries and research fields. It is a concrete example of the cross-thematic approach recommended by the European Strategy for Marine and Maritime Research, adopted in September 2008.

EU Commissioner for Science and Research Janez Potočnik stated: "Human maritime activities impact on the marine life that lies beneath the ocean's surface, and vice versa. We want to encourage marine scientists, oceanographers and researchers in various maritime sectors, such as transport or energy, to work together in order to better understand the interconnection between marine ecosystems and maritime activities. "The ocean of tomorrow” call will help us to reconcile the potentially competing goals of sustainable economic growth and preservation of our seas and oceans. This can only benefit current and future generations".

The ocean of tomorrow" call shows how the EU's funding programme for research (FP7) can address global issues in an interdisciplinary way. The projects selected will be funded by several funding themes: Food, Agriculture, Fisheries, and Biotechnology (€9 million), Energy (€6 million), Environment (€10,5 million), Transport (€7,5 million) and Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities (€1 million).

The call is split into three topics:

• The first topic (€11 million) addresses the far reaching consequences of changing climatic conditions in the Arctic, both economically and environmentally;

• The second topic (€12.5 million) focuses on the human and natural impacts on marine life and their subsequent impact on economic sectors such as transport, fisheries or tourism

• The third topic (€10.5 million) deals with the potential impact of sub-seabed Carbon storage on marine ecosystems.

The application deadline for the call is 14 January 2010 and projects selected will be announced by autumn 2010.